The goal of the plain-language alert project is to encourage all Texas hospitals and health systems to use plain-language alerts in the event of an emergency in lieu of hospital-specific color codes. The alerts are constructed purposefully to allow hospitals to personalize the information to their facilities and provide site-specific details.

The intent of using plain-language alerts is to:

Promote the safety of patients, visitors, physicians and hospital staff;

Reduce errors;

Increase transparency of communications and safety protocols;

Align with national safety recommendations; and

Reduce confusion for staff or physicians who work in more than one facility.

Special thanks are owed to the Missouri Hospital Association for its leadership on this issue and generosity in sharing its resources.

Facility Alerts

The purpose of facility alerts is to provide for the safety and security of patients, employees and visitors at all times, including the management of essential utilities.

Examples:

Evacuation;

Fire;

Hazardous spill (but not mass patient decontamination); or

Loss of electrical power

FACILITY ALERT

Event

Recommended Plain Language

Bed Capacity

“Facility Alert + Bed Capacity + Descriptor (location)”

Emergency Plan Activation

“Facility Alert + Emergency Plan Activation + Descriptor (location)”

Fire Alarm Activation

“Facility Alert + Fire Alarm Activation + Descriptor (location)”

Hazardous Spill

“Facility Alert + Hazardous Spill + Descriptor (location)”

Medical Alerts

The purpose of medical alerts is to provide medical care and support to patients and incident victims while maintaining care and safety of patients, employees and visitors within a health care facility during an incident.

This is the only category where the recommendation is to keep the existing, widely used color code – Code Blue – and not replace the color with plain language. The rationale is that Code Blue is almost universally used and understood by health care providers and lay people alike as indicating a medical emergency.

MEDICAL ALERT

Event

Recommended Plain Language

Medical Alert

Code Blue

Security Alerts

The purpose of security alerts is to protect employees, patients and visitors from any situation or person posing a threat to the safety of any individual(s) within the hospital.

Examples:

Missing person;

Armed violent intruder, active shooter, hostage;

Bomb threat;

Suspicious package; or

Combative person/patient.

SECURITY ALERT

Event

Recommended Plain Language

Armed Violent Intruder/Active Shooter/Hostage

“Security Alert + Descriptor (threat/location)”

Civil Disturbance

“Security Alert + Descriptor (threat/location)”

Combative Patient/Person

“Security Alert + Security Assistance Requested + (location)”

Lockdown

“Security Alert + Descriptor (threat/location) + Instructions”

Missing Person

“Security Alert + Descriptor”

Suspicious Package

“Security Alert + Descriptor (threat/location)”

Weather Alerts

The purpose of weather alerts is to provide clear, plain-language instructions and situational awareness to hospital employees, patients and visitors in the event of dangerous or extreme weather events.

Hospitals across the state are experiencing an influx of patients with flu; in some cases, going on “medical divert” to transfer patients to other facilities because they are at capacity. Flu season...

The Texas Hospital Association often publishes white papers on issues affecting Texas hospitals and the health care of Texans.

Texas Medicaid in Perspective: Texas Medicaid, operated in partnership with the federal government, serves primarily low-income pregnant women and children but also individuals with disabilities and older adults. Learn More

2017 Texas Hospitals’ Policy Priorities: Hospitals also are required by federal law to provide, at a minimum, a medical screening to anyone who seeks it and to provide stabilization and treatment services for an emergency medical condition, regardless of a patient’s ability to pay. Learn more

Hospital Financing Overview: This document is intended to provide a high-level overview of the hospital financing system in Texas and the challenges that exist – challenges that threaten hospitals’ continued ability to provide the highest quality care for all Texans. Learn More

1115 Medicaid Transformation Waiver: Learn how the Transformation Waiver is making health care in Texas more effective and efficient and why renewal is so important for Texas hospitals. Learn more

Contact Info

The Texas Hospital Association would like to hear from both its members and from the public for whom Texan hospitals and health systems work to keep healthy.